So in that clip we see where they have practically this woman's entire house out on her front lawn. At first I thought, what does that have to do with losing weight. However, now a few weeks in .. I get it.
How much excess weight do I still have in my life?
I definitely have things in my life that I have held on to for what I am now seeing to be all of the wrong reasons. In just the last month I have used my new found desire for a healthy and lean lifestyle, and my need to find ways to get in hours of cardio without being a slave to the treadmill every day to start cleaning out my life as well as my head. =) However, I still have a ways to go.
I have an entire motor home in my drive way as a storage unit. Even the motor home itself was an impulsive purchase without much forethought about "down the road" needs. =) In there I have lots of stuff, boxes, storage bins, etc. Late last year I went in there and reorganized everything. Took photos of the stuff I was going to freecycle, sell, etc. Never did another thing with it. Right inside the door is the really the biggest challenge for me of all of the stuff in there.
The one that has been the hardest for me is my sewing, knitting, crochet stuff. These were all skills that my grandmother taught me and although I rarely do them, I have held on to all of this stuff. About 5 years ago I accumulated A LOT more sewing and craft stuff which is now blocking the entrance of the motor home. Here is how it started:
5 years ago I went to an estate sale. It was for Terry O'Quinn from LOST and his wife's home. They were moving from the farmland that her parents had owned in Maryland and where they had met - he was the farm hand, she was the farmer's daughter - at first her Dad was none too pleased, but eventually came around. They were leaving the lovely rolling hills of Maryland to move to Hawaii as LOST was picked up for the second season. As we moved room through room of their beautiful home there wasn't anything that really struck my eye that I had to have. She had stunning items, and there was furniture that he had made, it was a splendid walk through the lives of some very creative people. When we went up to her craft room and I was breathless (and not just from the stairs! =). She had the top floor with half of the length of their house as her amazing craft room. Counter space lined both long walls with drawers and cubbies above and below to store everything. She did glasswork, sewing, costume making, you name it. It was here I eyed 7 huge Rubbermaid bins of various material - nice material. I bought it all for $7.
What a bargain right?! There were yards and yards of perfect material for dog beds, dog clothes, belly bands - things that I could make in my free time and sell in the dog boutique where I was the co-owner and was running the store most days of the week.
After that purchase I:
- bought 14 huge bins from the Container Store at $20 a piece to store said material, and organize all of the other sewing stuff that I had already collected all of these years. I even have a cross stitch that I started when I was in JUNIOR HIGH, that is half done and in those bins. Considering I came to MD/VA in 1991 with two suitcases and a carry on - how I even have this cross stitch is beyond me.
- bought 5 boxes of batting, with the intention that I was going to make dog beds for the dog store that I had at the time
- bought enough foam and batting foam to make easily 14 dog beds
- bought Velcro in HUGE industrial size rolls (in white, beige and black) on EBay to make Belly Bands for Dogs that I planned on selling in the store
- bought more material each trip to the fabric store that was on sale and I couldn't pass it up
That $7 in material turned into the catalyst for hundreds of dollars of more purchases, and in 5 years I have made 3 beds that I didn't like the way they turned out so I stopped, and about 30 belly bands. That's it. The 14 bins have been moved about 7 times in those years to different storage areas in the house and now they are currently residing in the motor home in my driveway.
In my new head space, now when I think about what I want my future life to be like - it definitely does not include a ton of sewing. So, I am going to go into that motor home and start cleaning it out getting it ready to sell and purging the things in there that I haven't even looked at.. some in 5 years, some in over a decade. My new healthy life doesn't have time to sew.. and if it does, it will go to the fabric store, buy exactly what I need, make it and be done.
GOAL: I give myself three months to clean out and SELL that motor home. By August 4, 2010 it is my intention to have purged out that RV and sold it freeing up my driveway for the first time in over 5 years. =)
This is my new attitude. This is my new life. =)
